Curtain threader



Feb. 26, 1957 L. s. YOUNG I CURTAIN THREADER Filed Oct. 19, 1954 Y -r/G. 1

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INVENTOR United States Patent we CURTAIN THREADER Lucille S. Young, Lincoln, Ill.

Application @ctoher 19, 1954, Serial No. 463,191

1 Claim. (Cl. 223-105) This invention relates to a curtain threader, adapted to be mounted in the end of a conventionally designed curtain rod, to facilitate the extension of said rod through the hem of a curtain.

It is well known that it is difficult to thread a curtain upon a curtain rod of the type having a at web portion and inturned flanges. The end of the curtain rod is rather sharp, and as a result, the rod tends to snag upon the material of the curtain, when the rod is being forced through the hem. This is particularly true when, as is often the case, the hem has its opposite side walls heavily starched and stuck together. Due to this characteristic of conventionally designed curtain rods of the' type referred to, considerable inconvenience to the housewife results, as well as loss of time and patience.

lt is not broadly new to provide a threading device insertible in the end of a curtain rod, for the purpose of facilitating the extension of said rod through the starched hem of a curtain. However, to my knowledge, it has not heretofore been suggested to so design the head of the threading device as to particularly adapt the same for spreading the contacting walls of the hem, while at the same time holding to a minimum the amount of friction created when the head is in engagement with the opposite walls of the hem and the curtain rod is being forced from end to end of the hem.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a generally improved threading device which will have the desirable characteristics noted immediately above. To this end, the device constituting the invention is so shaped as to include, for insertion in the rod, a pair of legs of springable characteristics which will tightly engage the rod to hold the threading device in place with the head of the device projecting beyond the end of the rod; and a head portion on said legs having sides converging in a direction toward their junctures with the legs, and having a bight formed with a plurality of undulations in its top surface, which undulations serve in a particularly desirable manner in engaging one wall of the curtain hem to force the same away from the other wall, while holding to a minimum the frictional contact which the head has with said one wall. To further facilitate the spreading of the walls of the hem, the head of the device is curved out of the plane of the legs, with portions of the head lying both above and below said plane, to insure the spreading of the curtain hem walls to an extent suicient to hold the same fully out of contact with the adjacent end of the curtain rod, at both sides of the curtain rod. The head, further, is of a width slightly greater than that of the curtain rod, so as to hold the top and bottom portions of the head out of contact with the respective longitudinal edges of the rod.

Another object of importance is to provide a construction as stated which will nevertheless be capable of manufacture at relatively low cost, will be durable, and will be easily attached to or detached from an associated, conventional curtain rod.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, in which:

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a portion of a curtain rod and an associated portion of a curtain into which the rod is to be extended, a threading device formed in accordance with the invention being shown in operative position in one end of said rod;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the threading device per se, on an enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is an edge elevational view of the threading device; and

Figure 4 is an end elevational view of the threading device as seen from the left of Figure v3, the scale being enlarged still further.

The reference numeral 10 has been applied generally to a conventional curtain rod of the type having a flat web and inwardly turned flanges on the opposite longitudinal edges of the web. The reference numeral 12 has been similarly applied to the threading device constituting the present invention, and the reference numeral 14 applies generally to a conventional curtain to be threaded upon the rod.

The threading device is formed from a single length of slightly resilient wire material, bent into the approximate shape of an elongated U. The frame device includes a pair of elongated, straight parallel legs 16, terminating at the free ends thereof in relatively short, straight free end portions 18 converging to a slight extent n a direction away from the bight of the threading device as best shown in Figure 2, the outer terminals of the end portions 18 being rounded to facilitate insertion of the same into the curtain rod lil.

At their other ends, the straight midlength portions of the legs 16 merge into gradually curving inner end portions 20 of the legs, which are of a length approximately equal to that of the end portions 18, and which converge in the direction of the bight of the threading device.

At their convergentends, the end portions 2d merge into the head of the device. Said head is approximately C-shaped as shown in Figure 2, and includes side portions 22 of curved formation, converging in the direction of their junctures 24 with end portions 24B. The side portions 22, at their other, divergent ends, merge into the curved bight 26 of the head. As will be noted from Figure 3, the portions 22 curve not only in the direction shown in Figure 2, but also in a second direction, so as to curve downwardly out of the plane of the legs 16. Then, where the side portions 22 merge into the ends of the curved bight 26, they are curved reversely toward said plane, the ends of the bight passing through the plane of legs 16 and the midlength part of the bight being disposed above said plane.

By reason of this arrangement, the midlength part of the bight will engage one wall of the hem of a curtain,

while the parts of the side portions 22 that lie at the opposite side of the plane of legs 16 will engage the opposite wall. This will result in the opposite wall of the hem being held out of contact with the sharpened end edge of the curtain rod, until they are safely past said sharpened end edge, it being understood, in this connection, that this action will occur due to the fact that the legs 16 will be engaged directly in the curtain rod, in the general plane of said rod.

In the top surface of the bight portion of the head a plurallty of grooves 28, having rounded bottoms and slightly flaring ends, are formed, said grooves extending the full distance across the width of the bight, and being extended along lines substantially in parallelism with the longitudinal center line of the device. The grooves 28 define between them small rounded lugs 30, said lugs being wholly rounded to provide a smooth surface that will not snag upon the material of the curtain. As will be noted from Figure 4, the rounded Walls of the grooves 28 merge smoothly into the rounded side surfaces of the lugs 30, and as shown in Figure 2, the flared ends of the grooves define rounded end surfaces of the lugs.

The lugs have the desirable effect of holding to a minimum the amount of surface of the head of the threading device that is in contact with the material of the hem. At the same time, however, the walls of the hem, even though they may be starched together throughout their lengths, are effectively spread by the device, with a minimum of difficulty. The reduction of the frictional contact to a minimum is of great importance, in this regard, in view of the fact that the starched-together Walls resist spreading, rendering comparatively diicult the task of extending the curtain rod therethrough.

As noted from Figure 4, the head is further curved in a transverse direction, so as to cause the bight portion 26 to be bowed upwardly at its center. This cooperates with the arrangement shown in Figure 3 in shifting the opposite Walls of the hem apart a distance sufficient to cause the same to clear the opposite side faces of a curtain rod. In this connection, the hem has been designated 32, and the inwardly turned side flanges 34 of the curtain rod are also shown as receiving the legs 16 in position to cause the head of the device to be disposed beyond one end of the curtain rod, where it will be readily extendable into the hem 32.

The convergent end portions 18 facilitate the extension of the legs 16 into the spaces defined between the web of the curtain rod and the respective anges 34 thereof. Then, after the portions 18 have been entered, the elongated Shanks of the legs 16 are extendable into said spaces, and due to the resilient nature of the material used, will engage firmly against the inner surfaces of the flanges. It will be noted, in this regard, that the overall width of the head, that is, the distance between the side portions 22 at their point of greatest divergence, is greater than the overall width of the curtain rod. This results in the hem being held out of contact not only with the opposite faces of the rod, but also, with the opposite longitudinal edges of said rod. This further facilitates the insertion of the device in a curtain hem.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited, Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles of operation, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted Within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A curtain threader for removable engagement in one end of a curtain rod for spreading the walls of a curtain hem in advance of the rod during extension of the rod through said hem, comprising an elongated length of Wire material having the approximate shape of a U and including a pair of coplanar legs extendable into said end of the rod, and a head on one end of the legs adapted to project beyond said end of the rod for extension into the hem in advance of the rod, said head being approximately C-shaped and including a curved bight and curved side portions, the side portions converging toward and merging at their convergent ends into the legs, the side portions at their divergent ends merging into the ends of the bight, the bight having for substantially its full length a surface bowed out of the common plane of the legs at one side of said plane for engaging one wall of the hem, the side portions having surfaces bowed out of said plane at the opposite side of the plane to engage the opposite wall of the hem, said surface of the bight being formed withva longitudinal series of low lugs rounded over their full areas, said lugs being substantially uniformly spaced apart along the length of the bight and merging smoothly at their bases into surrounding areas of the bight surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,382,973 Grady June 28, 1921 2,183,328 Baacke Dec. 12, 1939 2,378,970 Baumann June 26, 1945 

